Jennifer Childs and Tony Lawton star as Celia and Toby Teasdale in 1812 Productions’ INTIMATE EXCHANGES (Photo credit: Mark Garvin)

Intimate Exchanges (1812 Productions): 2014 Fringe Review 1.2

What makes film different from theater is that film is fixed forever, performances and lines repeating endlessly year after year, while theater has the ability to surprise us. And what makes theater different from life is that theater is scripted and life is random, unexpected, not planned out ahead of time. And what makes Philadelphia’s FringeArts Festival fun is that it delights in performances that confound expectations.

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Teddy Fatscher is featured in the VIP locker-room pre-show for SUSPENDED by Brian Sanders’ JUNK (Photo credit: Courtesy of Brian Sanders’ JUNK)

SUSPENDED (Brian Sanders’ JUNK): Fringe Review 2

Have you ever been caught between two conflicting emotions at the same time? Have those ambivalent feelings left you hanging, unable to decide what to think or how to act? Have you turned to your most primal impulses to figure out who you are and where you’re going? Baring body and soul, Brian Sanders’ JUNK explores the psychology and physicality of uncertainty and transition in SUSPENDED.

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Jennifer Childs as Sylvie Bell and Tony Lawton as Lionel Hepplewick in 1812’s INTIMATE EXCHANGES (Photo credit: Mark Garvin)

INTIMATE EXCHANGES (1812 Productions): Fringe Review 1.1

Alan Ayckbourn’s inventive rom-com about failing and budding mid-life relationships in suburban London is that the play (or more accurately, the first volume of the playwright’s original two-volume work that is performed here) offers sixteen plot options and eight different endings. And for the first time in its production history, 1812 shines the spotlight on random members of the audience to decide spontaneously which path the characters should take as they reach a series of crossroads in their lives.

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Fringe preview: Actor schedule for WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT includes David Morse

Part of an ongoing international tour, FringeArts’ 13-performance engagement of White Rabbit, Red Rabbit follows the playwright’s rules: A script waits in a sealed envelope. ach night, a different actor steps on stage and opens the envelope, reading the script aloud for the first—and last—time.

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Michael Durkin, Bathtub Moby-Dick

Mike Durkin’s 10 Fringe Picks: Fringe-tastic and great-image choices from The Renegade Company director

Mike breaks down his picks into two categories: Fringe-tastic are those that embrace the festival, try new ways to story-tell and create an exciting audience experience. The Guide Image picks are picked solely on their image in the guide,

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Fringe preview: Trajal Harrell brings Greek theater ‘Realness’

Some contemporary choreographers prefer not to explain, in concrete terms, what they intend their choreography to mean, but Trajal Harrell is happy not only to talk about his dance works, but also his creative process. In a phone interview from Berlin earlier this month, Harrell delved into the various aspects of his dance-theater opus Antigone Sr. / Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at the Judson Church (L), before its opening as one of the centerpiece shows at 2014 FringeArts.

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